Hikes, Surgery, & ART

It's been a tricky year so far for me. I have had lots of distractions and some challenges. One (okay two) of my challenges have been my feet. Over the past couple of years I have been in more and more pain that for the most part I: a) blamed on my shoes b) thought would get better by themselves c) tried to ignore. The denial had to come to an end and finally did when I realized during a vinyasa class that I was unable to be on my toes without excruciating pain... And there are a LOT of postures that rely on toes in vinyasa yoga. Luckily it prompted me to make an appointment with a podiatrist. 


My appointment was scheduled the week after a trip to visit my family in Southern Utah. Whenever I'm home I have to hike. The desert landscape calls to me and soothes my heart and soul. I'm very happy I didn't go to the podiatrist prior to this trip... I would never have been allowed to do the 5 hour hike. Although it hurt, I was so happy to be hiking in such a beautiful area again. I feel so lucky to have been able to grow up here! Here's a few photos of our hike a couple miles from my parent's home...

We drove about 40 minutes to get to this location (This was the 5 hour hike!) Here are the photos from that hike...

By the time I was done with the hiking I definitely knew that reasons a-b-c were not flying anymore! I returned home and went to the doctor. Here are the X-Ray's...

Bone on bone in toe joint. Ouch! 

Bone spurs on big toe joint. Ouch!

Bone on bone in big toe joint on left foot too. Ouch!

More spurs on big toe on left foot. Ouch!

OUCH! Time to schedule surgery to remove the bone spurs, and shorten the metatarsal leading from the big toe and screw it back together so that there isn't as much pressure pushing into that joint. Right foot scheduled for July 6th, and left foot will be fixed 3 months later (early October) when the right foot is strong enough to be my main foot. 

I'm happy that the first surgery is over and now that I've had several weeks of recovery I can get back into my studio for little snippets of time once again. This brings me to the art part of this post! YAY! 

Prior to surgery I signed up to take an art course called Ever After. Click here to view more details about the course. (It started early July but you can still sign up and not lose a step. You can download all course materials to work at your own pace.)

I LOVE fairy tales and I liked that this course studied fairy tales using different artist/styles plus you had the option of working on discovering your own style throughout the course.  (I signed up for both modules because I was very interested in the self discovery portion of the workshop as well.) I knew that the assignments would be waiting for me and would inspire me to get back in the studio. I started the first project this week. The first fairy tale study is, The Little Mermaid. Here's my initial sketch in my notebook...

I then drew my sketch onto watercolor paper and started the first layers of watercolor for the skin and began the detail of the eyes. Definitely a work in progress. I'm enjoying every moment. It feels great to create again. 

I'm looking forward to drawing and painting when I can and I am forgiving myself for being absent for so long. I am grateful that art always waits patiently for me to return. I am excited to share more zentangle and art of all forms as I continue healing, creating, and exploring. 

Day 99 : 04-08-12

Day 99 : 04-08-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

ANIMAL!!!! (One of my favorite muppets!)

Our last day/night in Southern Utah, I noticed Animal on my brother's car as we said our goodbyes... He graciously posed for me.

Day 97 : 04-06-12

Day 97 : 04-06-12, a photo by ha! designs on Flickr.

Beautiful southern Utah...

full moon?

I'm here (Mom's & Dad's - St. George, UT)....

I started to get sleepy a couple times driving and then my husband suggested I start listening to talk radio instead of the music. That definitely helped! I was only able to get about 4 hours sleep last night... so it was tricky.

The Wednesday league volleyball finals was last night! The team I'm on won!!! :) It was a super exciting, competitive match! The finals is a best of 5 format. We went 5 games to determine the winner. A real nail biter! The team really held it together to push through and win that 5th game! Congrats team! This game was the reason I only got 4 hours sleep! By the time I got home and showered it was already 11:00. I had to get up at 3:20 to make sure I was on the road between 4 and 4:15 am.

It's felt like a full moon today with 3 very odd events...

#1 - Stopped outside of Vegas. I filled up the car with gas, used the facilities, and decided to buy a small bag of chips to help keep me awake. I had my credit card in my pocket. I try to check out with my .89 cent bag of chips and the cashier wants to see my ID. I told her I would need to get it out of the car. I walk over there, come back, and she tells me "you could have just picked up this card in the parking lot...". I told her that I would hope I would have tried to buy more than an .89 cent bag of chips!

#2 - I went to lunch with my mom and sister when I got to St. George. Heather and I ordered an omelet WITHOUT green peppers. (I have a reaction to green peppers... not pleasant!) I got the omelet after an EXTENDED period of time took a bite and realized it had the flavor of green peppers.... so I opened it up and there was a big chunk of green pepper. I told the waitress and she told me that it was green onion... then she said, "Oh... It's only ONE green pepper." There was no sorry, no let me fix it, no nothin'! She did end up taking it off the bill, but that wasn't the point. If someone asks to not have an ingredient due to an allergy, etc. It's because they don't want ANY not even ONE!!! I also asked for tea at this restaurant. It came with a nice little teapot for the table, HOWEVER the teapot spout was totally broken and jagged. I tried pouring it as I was desperate since it took SOOO long just to get that pot, it spilled as much as it poured. When I pointed this out and that they may want to replace that teapot she was definitely put out and had the attitude like I was lying about the tea not pouring properly out of a broken teapot. (Not to mention the fact that the one glass I poured I kept thinking... "I hope I'm not drinking glass.") Mom's meal wasn't great either... the way I look at it is... ANYWHERE we go to eat now will be absolutely amazing! :)

#3 - My allergies are always particularly bad in St. George. Today they are even worse as there is a brisk wind blowing. I knew immediately upon getting out of the car that my Zyrtek wasn't going to do the trick. I was going to need to get Claritin 24 hour decongestant. I go to the local grocery store with pharmacy. I know I'll have to provide ID... However, the way the girl asked (no DEMANDED) my ID was as if I were a criminal running right out to juice up my meth lab with ONE box of Claritin!

Total attitude from all three places... I had to think... am I wearing a sign that says, "CRIMINAL" or am I asking for trouble and problems everywhere I go? I decided that the safest thing might just be to hang out at the house for the rest of the day. It's funny how sometimes there's no good reason... things just seem to go a little crazy. Well... that's it! Back to nice people who care about their jobs and customers tomorrow... (hope, hope, hope)

Maybe it was a full moon... :)

finals and packing

Finals tonight.... I'm starting to get a little nervous...

I have to finish (start!) packing! I leave at 4:00 in the morning to drive out to St. George. I definitely need to be ready to go so that when I get home from finals tonight I just have to worry about taking a shower and getting into bed as quickly as possible. I guess I better get stuff done now!

It's going to be so fun to see family AND have a full weekend filled with volleyball! :)

volleyball week

Yesterday I mentioned that it was a very busy week.... Looking forward to this week I feel like I'm going to be saying the same thing! This week is the Vegas volleyball tournament. I'll drive to St. George, Utah on Thursday to spend a couple of days with family and then drive down to Vegas on Saturday with my mom and sister, Heather. (It will be Heather's birthday, too!) They'll do some shopping as well as hang out for awhile as our team's fan club. (We play all day Saturday and Sunday.) I booked a room for that night so we can enjoy a nice dinner and have more fun celebrating Heather's birthday AND just hanging out. (Of course, I really won't be able to tell you all about what we do, because what happens in... you know the drill! :) ) I go to Vegas twice a year for volleyball tournaments and every time my mom, sister, and I make a girl's weekend out of it. It's just the best! :)

My Wednesday night volleyball league won in playoffs... so we have the finals game on Wednesday! (Definitely a busy volleyball week... I also play tomorrow night!)

I've been busy tonight making up more of my paper chocolate promo magnets. UniquelyPampered asked if I wanted to participate in her raffle. I was so pleased to be asked! I'm trying to get it all set to mail off tomorrow. I also have a couple of orders to mail tomorrow as well.

I miss my car... The latest is that the repairs will take a couple of weeks... So I have probably another week and a half without it. I'll miss not being able to drive it to my tournament, I'll be driving Norm's car instead. His car is very nice and comfortable... but it's not my MINI... (sigh)